Reborn Tech Maniac

Chapter 310 New Competitors in the Japanese PC Market

These superficial routine affairs are not worthy of Tang Huan's own hands. He pays more attention to the deep-seated cooperation hidden behind the scenes.

One of them is to actively develop the camp of third-party hardware manufacturers connected to the second-generation Fangyuan computer through the ISA bus. In terms of technical background, Japan is naturally the second most important place for competition besides the United States.

If arranged in order, then the first Japanese third-party hardware manufacturer is naturally Epson. Its dot matrix printer has almost become a standard output device since Tang Huan launched the spreadsheet software CGrid. During the peak period, the market share reached Sixty percent, attracted all kinds of envy, jealousy and hatred.

It is precisely because of this close relationship that including Epson would be suspected of making up the numbers and deceiving people.

Moreover, with the great success of Epson, many manufacturers have entered this field one after another, and all of them have a very high starting point. They directly launched 16-pin products, which shows how fierce the competition is.

Fortunately, Epson's 24-pin upgrade product will come out soon, which can temporarily resist the crowds in the market.

However, Tang Huan could understand that the independent business could not continue, and the print head technology of dot matrix printers basically stopped here. Next, this kind of product competes for quality and features, such as the internal integration of Han Card.

This point in particular is very much in line with Tang Huan's current goal.

Just imagine, if most of the printers on the market use Chinese cards to provide functions such as Japanese character library, input, output, storage, conversion, etc., then the standards hidden behind Chinese cards will inevitably form a stronger voice.

No one dares to ignore such a large investment and forcibly start anew. This is a great mystery of the market rules.

Now that the cake in the dot matrix printer market has been inevitably eaten up, Tang Huan simply opened his arms and called on everyone to adopt the parallel interface standard of Fangyuan Computer to produce printers for the second generation of Fangyuan Computer.

Just like in the original time and space, Apple launched "Made For iPhone, "Made For iPod", and "Made For iPad" by marking the external accessories produced by its authorized accessory manufacturers - Apple MFi certification, Tang Huan also launched With a similar mechanism, "Made For SquareCircle" - Fangyuan Computer MFSC certification.

This gimmick is essentially a certificate of conformity, indicating Fangyuan Computer’s recognition of third-party products. Users will see Fangyuan Computer’s MFSC certification logo on the packaging.

The deeper meaning of the whole routine is that by sharing the brand value of Fangyuan Computer, third-party manufacturers will be attracted to surround themselves, forming a mutually beneficial ecosystem, and at the same time, they can use product standards to control each other.

In addition to dot matrix printers, there are also equipment such as laser printers, scanners, disk drives, etc., including well-known companies such as Canon and Sony.

It can be said that the Japanese's obsessive and fanatical drive to enter the US market has helped a lot invisibly.

With the increase in the number of manufacturers, Tang Huan was secretly happy. He did not expect that this trip to Japan would be unexpectedly smooth.

During this period, JVC sent over the prototype of Tang Huan's customized home video recorder for evaluation.If you pass it, you can take bulk orders.

JVC is far more flexible than Sony's authorization. After Tang Huan got the patent he wanted, he naturally didn't mind making suggestions.

Overall, home video recorders are currently unpopular in the United States, not from users but from Hollywood and major TV networks.

Because they believe that the videotape sharing method and playback function of home video recorders threaten the traditional copyright and profit model; and the video recording function of home video recorders makes TV station advertisements easily ignored...

Before the commercial value of the home video recorder has been fully demonstrated, the various parties have been talking about it for many years.In the original time and space, Sony also got into a lawsuit because of this.

Tang Huan didn't bother to pay attention to these twists and turns. The general trend of the market in the next two years is unstoppable, and there is time to tear it. It is better to find a way to actively intervene and share the profits.

Moreover, he is basically not a party with vested interests. The only American TV station, KTVU, can be completely ignored. The combined market share of United Artists and MGM is still at the bottom of Hollywood. It is said that he is barefoot and not afraid of wearing shoes. Not an exaggeration.

Therefore, Tang Huan changed his ways to let home video recorders hit the market.

He didn't win by sacrificing image quality in exchange for time length like the RCA company in the original time and space. This offending method of forcing Japanese manufacturers to make technological changes is left to the bosses.

The first thing Tang Huan needs to avoid is to reduce the risk of copyright. He cannot be targeted for this reason. He already has enough opponents.

To this end, Tang Huan slightly improved the format of the VHS tape, adding "noise" to it.

When a home video recorder records a program from the TV, the picture quality will be affected to a certain extent; and when it is played, this "noise" can be used to distinguish whether it is a genuine source program.

For the reasons in this plan, JVC understands very well, and even has a feeling of seeing the future of entering the US market. As for the realization principle, it is even more admirable.

So, Tang Huan turned around and authorized this technology to JVC, and implemented it. This kind of "reward" made the other party ecstatic, and he immediately worked overtime and got busy, completely forgetting that this was his own technology. modified version of .

It can be seen that innovation ability is very popular in Japan.

Tang Huan looked at the actual effect of the prototype and expressed his satisfaction.

The home video recorders of this era do not focus on visual experience such as high-definition, but on program interaction.

This market essentials will not be slowly summarized by the world until Sony loses in the video recorder standard war.Tang Huan, who had a preliminary investigation, used it directly with full confidence.

The picture quality of the programs recorded on the TV by the home video recorder is worse than that of the original version played on the TV;

These two points are reflected in the prototype sent by JVC.

In this way, Tang Huan had nothing to worry about, and directly mobilized the relevant departments of MGM, United Artists, DreamWorks, and Radio Shack to place orders. The American Chinese community is of a testing nature, and the latter is responsible for the sales network.

Now the price of a home video recorder is generally more than 1000 US dollars, so it is the most expensive product that Radio Shack owns. It used to be a personal computer TRS-80 that cost a few hundred dollars. The person in charge, John Roach, is walking on eggshells ,tremble with fear.

The licensing of compatible machines for the second-generation Fangyuan computer is still a topic that Tang Huan was asked many times in Japan. He stated that he is still considering it, and I believe it is only a matter of time.

In fact, Tang Huan really didn't think about it. In the final analysis, Boss Tang felt sorry for this interest.

Perhaps it is an acceptable compromise to authorize the Intel 8086 branch for the mid-to-low-end market in the second-generation Fangyuan computer, while retaining the MC68000 branch for mid-to-high-end applications.

When Tang Huan visited Sony for the second time, when he was questioned on the sidelines, Tang Huan revealed this idea in a superficial way, which immediately caught Akio Morita's eyes.

Tang Huan came to Sony this time mainly to see how the development progress of the 1.44-inch floppy disk drive with a capacity of 3.5MB is.

Sony's existing specifications - 720-inch floppy disk drive with a capacity of 3.5KB, as an optional accessory for the second-generation Fangyuan computer, have received a good response in the US market.

I have to say that the 3.5-inch floppy disk that can even be put in your pocket is really attractive.

Of course, Sony, which has reaped the benefits, also actively participated in the MFSC certification of Fangyuan Computer.

The hospitable Akio Morita, like squeezing toothpaste, got the idea of ​​licensing the second-generation Fangyuan computer compatible machine from Tang Huan little by little. He thought he had seized the market opportunity, and his face showed pride from time to time.

Tang Huan played with Akio Morita for a while, and felt bored, so he planned to go to Waseda University, the next stop, and then return to the United States after finishing his trip to Japan, to attend the COMDEX exhibition in the first half of the year, and he also had to go to receive a master's degree certificate up.

However, Yaskawa Hideaki personally sent a document with a dignified expression. The above information slightly disrupted Tang Huan's plan, because recently NEC showed a prototype of the 16-bit personal computer PC-9801 developed by itself.

From the introduction of hardware specifications, the CPU used by PC-9801 is an Intel 8086, and it is equipped with 128KB memory when it leaves the factory, and it can be expanded to 640KB.

In addition, PC-9801 is equipped with 2 NEC PD7220 display controllers, one of which is used for text display, specializing in processing English and Japanese characters, and the other generates video graphics signals.The machine can display 640-bit color at a resolution of 400x8 pixels.

As far as the underlying technical details are concerned, PC-9801 is in a class of its own in terms of 16-bit system bus, BIOS, I/O interface addressing, memory management, graphics output, and so on.

After reading the document, Tang Huan couldn't help frowning. Although he had been prepared in his heart, he still felt tremendous pressure when the matter came to an end.

First of all, NEC's strength makes people feel dreadful. Its industry status in Japan is almost similar to that of giant companies such as IBM and Bell Systems in the United States. Almost everything within its business scope can be designed and produced by itself.

NEC is the top six Japanese semiconductor companies that are now competing with the entire semiconductor industry in the United States.

The crazy energy of clamoring "always [-]% lower than competitors' quotations" will be a pain in the first half of the year wherever you put it.

A single company can't afford the self-inflicted means of hurting people supported by the state.

In this way, Intel was forced to a dead end and had to transfer its main business from memory to CPU.

Therefore, if the PC-9801 fights a big price war, the first-generation Fangyuan computer and its compatible machines will definitely be defeated, and the Intel 8086 branch products of the second-generation Fangyuan computer will also be significantly affected.

The shipments of these two types of products account for the bulk of the overall sales, especially the former.Small profits but quick turnover is still second, the key is that it drives the popularization of Hanka applications.

If this layout is impacted or even fails in Japan, then Tang Huan will suffer a great loss, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it affects the whole body.

Tang Huan paced back and forth, meditating, and found that NEC not only had a strength advantage in terms of hardware, but also had a provocative publicity stunt in software, and he could even think of some points for it, such as Japan's There are many self-developed personal computers that support Japanese and so on.

This kind of "human harmony" advantage does not need to be taught by others, NEC will definitely think that they cannot be stupid.

Japan, which has an island mentality, has always been very xenophobic. Tang Huan released EA's video games through Taidong, and helped sell Fangyuan computers with the help of partners such as Epson and Sharp, all of which are adapting to the unique ecological environment here.

Compared with the menacing NEC, Fangyuan Computer really doesn't have any decisive advantages except for its technical victory.

However, in market competition, the so-called "technological victory" is not an absolute magic weapon for victory, as can be seen from many failure cases.

As long as PC-9801 achieves the "functionality" in the eyes of users, it can completely offset the "technical superiority" advantage of Fangyuan Computer.

You know, in the original time and space, from the 1980s to the early 1990s, NEC's PC-98 series of personal computers basically monopolized the Japanese microcomputer market, accounting for more than 60.00% of the market share.

Since the IBM-PC in the 1980s and its matching operating system MS-DOS could not display Japanese characters, although it was popular all over the world at that time, it did not enter the Japanese market.

In 1990, IBM Corporation of Japan developed the DOS/V system, which can display Japanese on the standard IBM-PC/AT VGA adapter, and the monopoly of PC-98 in Japan began to shake.

After Microsoft released the revolutionary operating system Windows 1995 in 95, the Japanese software on its platform no longer needed a system made by NEC to run, and its versatility was greatly improved.

The PC-9801 series computers cannot install and use Windows 95 because the graphics device is too simple.At this point, PC-98 was completely in decline.

NEC also realized that it was powerless, and discontinued the PC-1997 series of computers in 9801, and its follow-up model, the PC-9821, remained on sale.

它的最后一款产品是2000年上市的PC-9821 Ra43，核心为Intel440FX主板搭载CPU赛扬433，技术水平仅相当于1998年的中端PC，已经没有了市场价值的存在必要。

The PC-98 series completely withdrew from the stage of history in 2003, and it has absolutely monopolized the Japanese market for more than ten years, and it has coexisted with IBM-PC for several years, which shows its strong vitality.

Tang Huan stopped and muttered to himself: "It seems that we really have to rely on the authorization to release the second-generation Fangyuan computer compatible machine to continue to compete for market share."

(End of this chapter)